by Sandy,Reluctant Entertainer Blog,
Oregon author
Many times I’ve been inspired by comments that I get from readers. One friend was getting ready to speak about hospitality in her church, and she emailed me for advice. I loved her heart when she made this statement to me, and I could just visualize what a beautiful, thoughtful person she is!

When people come into my home, I want them to know that I have spent time preparing for them and that they are important enough to me that I would take time out of my day to do something to make them feel special.

The video story of the week is the national mockery of the 7th grade teacher who showed up to class drunk and was later arrested. We know that kids can drive teachers crazy — but can they drive them to a drunken binge? Video below (pardon ad) shows the details.

What happens to discipline when your child argues with you? Does the discipline become a battle? Learn 3 ways to model character and practice the winning formula for solving arguments. It’s time you get the respect you deserve.

The Discipline Problem: Endless Arguing between You and Your Kids:

Arguing with kids is like a spinning top. It keeps spinning until you give up, tip over, and say, “Yes” when you want to say, “No.” Kids push arguments to senseless heights. Be rational when they’re not, otherwise your discipline will fail. They’ll win. Why? Many kids argue louder and longer than their parents. If this is the way your kids get what they want, you can change it.

Let’s look at 3 discipline solutions for ending arguments and solving problems, but first let’s look into your past.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Some of the most popular garden annuals and perennials are “waterwise” plants, which once established, survive in gardens with little or no irrigation. They include lavender, blanket flower, black-eyed Susan and California fuschia, for example. “Often these sturdy plants are planted in mixed perennial or shrub borders and given the same care as the surrounding plants,” said Linda McMahan, Oregon State University Extension horticulturist with Yamhill County. “But this intermixing uses more water than is necessary and does not take best advantage of the drought-hardy plants.”

HealthDay News — Recent calls for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to clamp down on tanning bed use will heat up again Thursday as an agency panel debates new restrictions on the devices, which some health experts say contribute to cancer.”We are hoping the FDA will reclassify tanning beds,” said Dr. Allan Halpern, vice president of the Skin Cancer Foundation.

Currently, tanning beds are classified as class I medical devices, “which means these cancer-causing machines are in the same category as tongue depressors and elastic bandages and subject to few regulations and little oversight,” the foundation noted in a news release.

Someone had the time and treasurer to examine 50 different paintings of the Last Supper. The various paintings spanned over 1000 years. What the researcher found was that as time went on the meal portions grew in size. Consider it a very odd window into people’s meal portions throughout time. This is provided if it truly reflects the times. Part of it makes sense, since as societies became more prosperous over time their adaptations for luxury and excess would grow. Below is how Health Day News described the study.

“The Last Supper” might serve as an early warning sign of bigger appetites: Over the past 1,000 years, researchers say, paintings of Christ’s final meal have shown increasingly larger portions and larger plates. The change in artistic depiction shows that people have slowly been increasing their portion sizes over the millennium, a phenomenon that can encourage overeating, Brian Wansink, a professor of marketing and applied economics and director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University, said in a university news release.

When spring finally arrives, Oregonians are eager to get outdoors. For many of us, that means barbecuing, working in the yard, and relaxing on the back porch with kids, family and friends. For a number of years now, home decorators have promoted the idea of the “outdoor living space” being an extension of one’s home. That is great in theory, but outdoor kitchens, elaborate decks, and matching patio furniture ensembles can cost a small fortune.

In fact, it doesn’t take a ton of money to create a lovely spot just outside your home. Here are some affordable ways to make your outdoor space more livable:

• Think about how you use the space and plan accordingly. Do you read outside, play with the kids, cook, entertain or play sports?

A Portland middle school recently captured the national spotlight with their decision to ban hugging. The so-called “hug ban” was highlighted in a recent USA Today article, illustrating a national trend of placing restrictions on disruptive behaviors in public schools, such as hugging. Schools in Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia have issued similar bans or restrictions on hugs.

As women, it seems we are always looking to find balance in our lives.I know as a working mother, this has been a struggle of mine for some time. Because—let’s not sugar-coat it—motherhood is a big job.

Think about it. You are responsible for sustaining the lives of said amount of human beings, keeping things clean—from clothes to bathrooms—and making sure everyone is loved, nurtured, included, and on- time to wherever they need to be at any given moment, on any given day. And should you falter at any of those tasks, you’re faced with that gnawing question: “Am I a good mother?” All those books and parenting “experts” will say yes, but your head doesn’t let you off the hook that easy.